Examining ships that have made an impact on Naval Warfare and Naval History.

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Hello out there! The purpose of this blog is to spread the word that Naval History is interesting and worth knowing. After searching the net, I couldn't find a single place that dealt solely with the subject of Naval Warfare, so I decided to create one. I will be posting pictures and text of various ships and will then describe what part those ships played in Naval Warfare and Naval History. For anyone interested in these subjects, I hope this will be your new home. Every Tuesday a new ship will be posted and each month I'll have a "Ship of the Month" displayed at the bottom of the blog. Both famous and not-so-famous ships will be highlighted. But what they all have in common is that, in some small way, they made an impact on Naval Warfare and Naval History. I think it's a historical lesson worth reading. I also hope you like what you see and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for dropping by.

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This blog was created by Remo. I have been forced to close my "Comments" section due to the enormous amount of spam that is being sent to it. I just can't keep up with it anymore, so I decided to end the comments. People who flood blogs with spam are jerks and should be ashamed of themselves. Anyway, if you want to contact me, e-mail me at Libertyship46@aol.com. On balance, I get less spam via my e-mail account than in the "Comments" section of the blog. So if you want to make a comment, send me an e-mail. Other readers on the blog will not be able to see it, but at least I'll have some contact with the outside world! Thank you.

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Figure 1:Wash drawing of USS Sacramento by Clary Ray, circa 1898,
depicting the ship as she was during the Civil War. Courtesy of the Navy Art
Collection, Washington, DC. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on
photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:USS Sacramentoat Kingstown, Ireland, in July 1865. Several local
sailing vessels are nearby. This photograph shows Sacramento in her
original configuration, with no bowsprit. US Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: The Tower of Belem,
Lisbon Harbor, Portugal, firing on USS Niagara and USS Sacramento, 28 March 1865.
Line engraving published in Harper's
Weekly, 13 May 1865, page 301. This incident resulted when Niagara
was shifting her berth in the harbor and was briefly fired upon by the harbor
fortification on the presumption that she was trying to follow the Confederate
warship CSS Stonewall to sea before expiration of the 24-hour waiting
period mandated by international law. Portugal later apologized for the
incident. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for
larger image.

Figure 4: USS Sacramentoin quarantine at
Madeira, Canary Islands, in December 1866, while en route to the East Indies station
by way of west Africa. Collection of Surgeon H.P. Babcock, USN; donated by his
son, George R. Babcock, 1939. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click
on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:USS Sacramentoat Benguela, Angola, off
Elephant's Bay, 7 March 1867, while cruising along the west African coast en route
to the East Indies station. Her bowsprit was fitted during her 1865-66 refit. Collection
of Surgeon H.P. Babcock, USN; donated by his son, George R. Babcock, 1939. US Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Sacramento"Kroomen"
from Monrovia, Liberia, on board, in January-February 1867, while the ship was
cruising along the west African coast en route from the United States to the
East Indies station. These men appear to be wearing Navy uniforms and may be
members of Sacramento's crew. Collection of Surgeon H.P. Babcock, USN;
donated by his son, George R. Babcock, 1939. US Naval Historical Center
Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:Pencil sketch of USS Sacramento by Midshipman M.S. Day, drawn
20 June 1867, the day after she was wrecked on a bar at the mouth of the
Godavari River near Madras, India. Collection of Surgeon H.P. Babcock, USN;
donated by his son, George R. Babcock, 1939. US Naval Historical Center
Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the river in California (and not
the city), the 2,100-ton USS Sacramento was a steam screw sloop gunboat
that was built by the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and
was commissioned during the Civil War on 7 January 1863. The ship was
approximately 229 feet long and 38 feet wide, had a top speed of 12 knots, and
had a crew of 161 officers and men. Sacramento was armed with one
150-pounder gun, two 11-inch guns, one 30-pounder, two 24-pounders and four
12-pounders.

After being commissioned, Sacramento
was assigned to blockade duty off the coast of North Carolina as part of the
plan to eliminate Confederate shipping coming out of Wilmington, North
Carolina. On 1 May 1863, while on patrol off Wilmington, Sacramento
captured the British blockade runner Wanderer. After undergoing a brief
overhaul, Sacramento then was sent to Europe. Sacramento left
Boston, Massachusetts, on 2 February 1864 and, after making stops in the Azores
and the Canary Islands, sailed on to Cherbourg, France, arriving there on 5
July.

Sacramento cruised off the coasts of France and England
in search of Confederate commerce raiders and blockade runners. Sacramento
assisted in blockading the Confederate gunboat CSS Rappahannock, which
was detained at Calais, France, in early 1865. In March, Sacramento
joined USS Niagara off Ferrol, Spain, to observe the movements of the
formidable Confederate casemate turret ram CSS Stonewall, which was
bound for Cuba from Bordeaux, France. Sacramento left Queenstown,
Ireland, on 25 July 1865 (after the end of the Civil War) and returned to
Boston, arriving there on 12 August. The ship was decommissioned on 21 August
at the Boston Navy Yard in Boston and remained inactive until 1866.

Re-commissioned on 17 September 1866, Sacramento
was sent to join American warships on the Asiatic station in China and Japan. Sacramento
left the United States in late 1866 and stopped at Madeira, Canary Islands,
before arriving at Monrovia, Liberia. While docked at Monrovia, Sacramento
embarked the president of Liberia and members of his government, along with
Maryland Senator John Marshall. The ship left Monrovia on 15 January 1867 and
took its passengers to Cape Palmas, located on the extreme southeast end of the
Liberian coastline.

After leaving Liberia, Sacramento made
her way to Madras, India. But on 19 June 1867, shortly after leaving Madras,
the ship ran aground on a reef at the mouth of the Godavary River. Although
smashed by powerful waves and wrecked, Sacramento’s crew was saved and
eventually boarded the steamer SS General Caulfield, which returned to
the United States and arrived in New York City on 19 November 1867.

Ship of the Month: USS Wandank

The 795-ton USS Wandank (AT-26) was an Algorma class fleet tug that was built by the Ferguson Steel and Iron Company at Buffalo, New York, and was commissioned on 23 March 1920. The ship was approximately 156 feet long and 30 feet wide, had a top speed of 13 knots, and had a crew of 25 officers and men. For roughly 20 years after being commissioned, Wandank worked along America’s east coast, primarily near her base at Norfolk, Virginia. In 1939, she assisted with the rescue and salvage efforts for the submarine USS Squalus (SS-192), which had accidently sunk off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Wandank then was based at Boston, Massachusetts, in October 1940 and remained there throughout World War II. Her designation was changed to ATO-26 in May of 1944. Wandank was decommissioned in September 1946 and in July 1947 was sold to a commercial firm in New Orleans, Louisiana, which operated her under the name of W.A. Bisso. The tug was scrapped in 1971 after being in service for 51 years. The photograph shows USS Wandank at Boston circa the later 1920s or early 1930s. USS Constitution is on the opposite side of the pier. US Naval Historical Center Photograph.